University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: November 18, 2004

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The searches to fill the positions of vice president for research and vice president for health sciences have begun, with search committees in place and a consultant hired to assist in the process.

Iain Hay, Grant T. Fisher Chair and professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been named chair of the Vice President for Research Search Committee. Kenneth Blumenthal, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry in the medical school, will serve as chair of the Vice President for Health Sciences Search Committee.

Ilene Nagel of Education Executives, Inc. will assist both committees in the search process. Nagel played a key role in the recent UB presidential and provostal searches.

Both searches are expected to be concluded during the spring. Hay says he anticipates that interviews with the final candidates for the research position will take place on campus sometime during the mid-winter to early spring. Blumenthal notes that President John B. Simpson has asked that the health sciences committee provide him with recommendations and evaluations of its top-rated candidates by the middle of April.

Web sites have been established for both searches. More information about the vice president for research position and the application/nomination process may be found at http://www.buffalo.edu/ vprsearch. Information about the vice president for health sciences position may be found at http://www.buffalo.edu/ vphssearch.

Both committee chairs stress that they are avidly seeking the input of members of the UB community in the search process. Ideas concerning both searches, as well as nominations for the positions, may be submitted electronically. Feedback regarding the research position should be emailed to vpr-search@vpsa.buffalo.edu. Input on the health sciences position should go to vphs-search@vpsa.buffalo.edu.

To ensure the recruitment of the most qualified applicant pool, the chairs point out that the identities of candidates will remain confidential until the time of the final campus interviews.

"We look forward to engaging the campus community appropriately in the final interview process," Hay says.

He notes that the major goal of the new vice president for research will be "the aggressive and innovative expansion of university-wide research strategies based on academic excellence and scholarship, and the integrated development of strategies to procure more research support for UB's faculty and students."

The search committee already has met once for planning purposes, he says, and will meet again in mid-December to review the first set of applications and nominations received by that time.

In addition to Hay, members of the Vice President for Research Search Committee are Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, professor, Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences; Sarah L. Gaffen, assistant professor, Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine; Joseph A. Gardella, Jr., professor of chemistry and associate dean, CAS; Peter Horvath, associate professor and director of graduate studies, Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Also, Bruce Jackson, Samuel P. Capen Chair of American Culture and SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of American Studies, CAS; Frederick C. Morin III, professor and chair, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Gene D. Morse, professor, chair and associate dean for clinical education and research, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Makau W. Mutua, professor, Law School.

Also, Paras N. Prasad, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, CAS; Sargur N. Srihari, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Donald L. "Skip" Trump, senior vice president for clinical research, Department of Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and Linda M. Wild, associate professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Blumenthal says his committee met with Simpson and Nagel last month to discuss the vice president for health sciences position and the search process. Formal recruitment efforts will begin very soon, he says, with advertisements due to appear sometime this month.

He notes that his committee is "very interested in receiving input from the UB community as the search process continues." He says he has solicited suggestions from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Faculty Council, and will be meeting within the next few weeks with faculty members in the other health sciences schools—Dental Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Health Professions, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences—in order to receive additional input. He says he plans to meet soon with other key constituent groups.

In addition to Blumenthal, members of the Vice President for Health Sciences Search Committee are Mary Adams, assistant professor, School of Nursing; Wayne Anderson, dean, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Joseph Bernat, associate dean and chair, Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine; John Cowell, chair, Department of Cancer Genetics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute; L. Nelson Hopkins III, professor and chair, Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Also, Timothy Murphy, UB Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Maureen Mussenden, associate counsel, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Peter Nickerson, professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Susan Schwartz, clinical director of medicine/Kaleida, and professor of clinical medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Also, Maurizio Trevisan, interim dean, School of Public Health and Health Professions; Robert Wilmers, chairman of the board, president and chief executive, M&T Bank; Noreen Williams, professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; John Yeh, professor and chair, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and David Brooks, medical student, School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.